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(no subject)

Who: HANGE!!! GArak, Coil and Zhas
Broadcast: none
Action: closed to Red Fish crew
When: sometime... when they're in range of the planet... after whenever the waystation mingle goes up...?

[She'll take a look at the spa later - after slowly going a little stir-crazy on the ship, Hange wouldn't close herself in another building (no matter how luxurious) by choice.

Now, just as she's been, she prowls and paces along the edge of the forest, looking in. She looks excited: her eyes wide, pupils dilated, grinning absentmindedly. The movement never quite stops. The whoops and cries of distant birds or other, more alien things; the smell of wet ground and the rustle of leaves... it's like home, just like home, just like being at home, all she needs is her 3DMG and her horse and her squad. If only.

Hange will head in soon. She's seen that path and - it could be a trap, but her nature is way too direct to pass up so courteous an invitation. Soon enough...]

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[and he's still seated on the ground, now working on dragging fingers over the gravel to break up the big ol' unholy-looking symbol he's got drawn in front of him.

he glances back briefly when she turns, holding up a hand for a second, to reassure her that it's no big deal. don't worry about it.]

[Nuh uh.]

What was that about?

[he stands up, shakes out his hands, scuffs up the last of the sigil until it would be only an unrecognizable patch of disturbed earth to anyone happening by. the glow of his eye is brighter now, visible even in the grey, outdoor light.

and to answer her, he shows her what look like a few tiny chunks of ostrich bone in one hand. then he draws a line across his eyes.

here is his answer to the blinding problem. he apparently doesn't need a gun now.]

[Sheeeee... looks doubtful.]

That's a weapon?

[he nods, very sure.]

[She raises her eyebrows, but lets it go.]

I'm leaving now. Do you need any time?

[he shakes his head, and pockets the little bone pieces to prove it.

he's ready to go.]

[She turns and leads the way off towards the woods, then. The gun is still toted over her shoulder. She walks past the entryway ignoring everything. Time to hit the trail again, and again it spreads out before them quiet and peaceful but for the distant chirps and whoops of whatever creatures populate the woods, and the chirr of insects.

Less relaxing now than it was before, because now Hange expects trouble. She scans the surroundings constantly.]

[without Zhas tromping along with them, it's easier to see how quietly he naturally tends to walk. he hangs back a few steps and off to the side and keeps everything about himself hushed. just a little creeping shadow.

and this time, she can be on his blind side, because he can't afford otherwise.]

[They can both enjoy the forest quiet together. "Enjoy" it. Because Hange isn't talking; she's in work mode, watching and listening and ready for action.

And just like before the forest draws them out, leads them to lose sight of the bathhouse and little encampment of ships through the foliage. It all seems calm and normal and then in the distance again crashing and the forms of giants in the distance. They were spooked by one before, but it'll change it up this time and give them three: five meter types, still three times Hange and Coil's height, that turn and begin crashing through the woods towards the little humans. Heat rolls off of them, some kind of foul, indefinable smell that lingers in the hair.

Hange clicks her tongue against her teeth and unlimbers her gun from her shoulder. She'll shoot once they're closer.]

[and they are no less terrifying than they were the first time. but he at least doesn't have the anchor of his partner weighing on half of his attention. the fact that he doesn't have to look for Zhas' safety or instructions fills him with a little bit of extra confidence.

the sense of self-preservation is much less overwhelming to him.

so he quietly slides over to put Hange a little more directly between the monsters and himself, and pulls out his little handful of bones. waiting and ready.]

Aim for the eyes.

[He probably hasn't forgotten, but it's reflex to remind them.

The titans are spread out a little, converging on where they stand; that's good, especially if they're real. Well, if they're real, they're both probably doomed no matter what they do - might as well go down fighting.

The first one stops just short of the path. Spindly limbs, a ragged beard, and it's slavering with bright eyes at it drops to its knees. Heat rolls off this thing and batters at both of them. And then smell. So it'll try to crawl for them, Hange thinks; she lowers the gun, aims for the head, and shoots - it's easier, no kickback.

Whereupon the beam passes directly through the thing's head with barely a ripple in the illusion.]

[for the most part, Coil is just watching.

especially having already seen them once before, and not having Zhas' shadow hanging over him, he's dangerously fascinated. he'll watch until he's completely out of time, or until they're proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be fake.

he does nothing with the bones yet. ...mostly because she'll be blinded too, since she doesn't know to look away. he can't exactly shout to warn her.

so, he just waits.]

[Nothing happens. Behind the illusion, trees crack and splinter as their moisture superheats and evaporates instantly. And even more than that - the titan shuffles nearer to them, strings of drool dripping off its teeth and lower lip, the other two make it there and crowd in until there are six hungry, luminous eyes watching, but they don't get snatched up and eaten.

Hange cracks into a moment of wild laughter. It seems they're safe?]

[...and that's when Coil finds that he'd been holding his breath.

slowly, so slowly, he straightens up. tentatively letting go of some of that ready tension.

lowering his eye from the giants long enough to watch Hange instead.]

[She's calmed down quickly. Now she only watches with eyes that give the lie to the idea that brown is a cold color. You can see the whites of her eyes as she watches the titans, lowers the gun again and shoots experimentally only to have the same thing happen.]

Well... I'll be damned.

[She steps towards the titans now and tries again, the same step of the protocol she's gone through every time when she gets a captured titan... though these aren't captured, they aren't moving closer...]

Hello. Can you understand me?

[once she moves, Coil finally sidles away from where he'd been rooted.

moving a little closer, along with her, but also keeping his eye moving elsewhere now.

looking at the other titans, really staring at every detail to figure out how true the illusion really is. the fact that they're tricking his eye at all is a bad sign. he looks down the path, glances back into the stretch of forest that they'd had their backs to for so long.

maybe waiting for the other shoe to drop.]

[There's no response. Hange stops at the edge of the trail. She's sweating, under her arms and at the small of her back. This would be an exceptionally dangerous position to be in, a fatal position to be in, if those things are real.

And the titans don't reply. They make occasional, random, animal noises - grunts and deep growls booming in their chests. No recognizable words, though.

Hange stands and watches them. Drinks them in a little bit. This reminder of home and the worst there is to offer there. What her comrades are facing outside the wall.]

So... we're being played with.

[Coil nods, for what it's worth, and points at the edge of the path that she's getting near to. whether she sees the gesture or not.]

[She catches his movement out of the corner of her eye and pauses.]

What?

[he points again, draws his finger back and forth to indicate the line of the trail.

then he signs the familiar no, before pointing at her feet, right where she's so near to the edge of the path.]

[Ah, she glances down and then chuckles. More like a cluck in the throat really, barely a laugh.]

Mm. Looks that way. [A response to something he didn't really say. She steps back a bit and then paces on the edge of the trail, watching the titans. One of them sort of trails after her, the other two just follow her with their eyes.]

It's a pretty good likeness.

[and maybe it's because he knows that it's an illusion now, but they're finally taking on that sort of hazy, unreal look that most illusions seem to him.

he's maybe just a little bit bitter that the one advantage that being Clearsighted gives him has been completely useless here until this very moment.

...so, he absently kicks a stone off the path in the direction of the nearest titan.]

[All three titans glance at the movement. They're more like animals than humans, no intelligence flickering in those enormous eyes. Then all three of their gazes return to Coil and simultaneously they lean in closer to study him. At which point Hange decides that's about enough.]

Let's get moving again and see if it throws anything else at us.

[And she will live up to her words and start walking.]

[once he passes by, he falls into the same walking formation he'd held before. Just a couple steps back and to the side.

...and he cranes his head around to look back and watch the giants as they go, though. He wonders if they'll disappear, or maybe just wander back into the forest.]